BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 201 



This race of the yellow-throated sand grouse differs from typical 

 gtitturalis in having the edges of the upper wing coverts darker, more 

 rufescent, less yellowish, and in having the back and rump slightly 

 darker. This difference applies, of course, only to male birds. I 

 have seen no females of the typical race, and can not say to what 

 extent females of the two forms differ. However, Hartert ^^ writes 

 that the females are quite similar, that of saturatior being somewhat 

 darker. The geographically intermediate form tanganjicae differs 

 in the following respects from both the others. The male has the 

 brownish color sharply restricted to the abdomen, not fading out 

 gradually on the breast, and has the under tail coverts darker bay 

 color, and has the throat and breast paler and grayer than saturatior^ 

 as does gutturalis. The female has the light spots on the upper parts 

 uniformly very pale. 



The material examined of the races of this species is insufficient to 

 allow for any systematic revision, as all the specimens seen (27) 

 belong to one form, saturatior. There is one point worth mention- 

 ing, however. Sclater ''^ following Reichenow ^° gives the range 

 of tanganjicae as southwestern Tanganyika Territory. A female 

 from Mwanza, on the south shore of Victoria Nyanza, in the Museiun 

 of Comparative Zoology (A. Loveridge collection) is very similar 

 to the description of tanganjicae., although a male from that locality 

 (in the American Museum of Natural History) is like saturatior 

 from Kenya Colony. Either the birds from Mwanza southwards 

 are intermediates between saturatior and tanganjicae (which would 

 indicate that the latter occurs farther north than known at present) 

 or tanganjicae is a doubtful race. 



Adult birds are by no means uniform in their coloration or size. 

 The individual differences are marked enough to warrant calling 

 some specimens typical gutturalis judging by the description of 

 that form, while others from the same locality are certainly satura- 

 tior. Strangely enough, a topotypical male saturatior has the 

 edges of the wing coverts lighter, more yellowish, (not darker, more 

 reddish as in the type) and has the breast more olivaceous, the throat 

 and cheeks yellower than any others in a series of 11 male birds from 

 Ethiopia, Kenya Colony, and Tanganyika Territory. The difference 

 may be due partly to age, as the latter birds look older than the one 

 from the type locality. 



The largest male examined (from Hawash River, Ethiopia) has 

 the following measurements: Wing 220, tail 84.5, culmen 17.5; the 



'8 Nov. Zool., vol. 7, 1900, p. 2!t. 



'» Syst. Avium Ethiop., 1924, p. 15S. 



'"Journ. f. Ornith.. 1919, p. 226. 



